The present invention relates to drawbars and, more particularly, to swinging drawbars commonly used with agricultural tractors
The use of swinging drawbars used with agricultural tractors are well known. In some applications, lateral movement of the drawbar under load is desirable. In other applications, lateral movement of the drawbar is undesirable and the drawbar must be retained.
FIG. 1 depicts a current and therefore prior art method of and device for retaining a swinging drawbar in a stationary position. A telescoping drawbar 10 is suspended from a hanger bar 20 fixedly attached to the rear end 52 of an agricultural tractor 50 by an assembly 30 including a U shaped saddle 32, a cover plate 34 and fasteners in the form of a pair of bolts 38. Saddle 32 extends under and around the lateral sides of the drawbar 10. Lateral side walls 32a, 32b of the saddle 32 are notched to define forks extending above front and rear edges 22, 24 of the hanger bar 20 on either lateral side 14, 15 of the drawbar 10 and along the lateral side edges of the cover plate 34. The saddle 32 and cover plate 34 are releasably secured together by the pair of bolts 38. A wear pad 70 is optionally provided between the cover plate 34 and hanger bar 20 to prevent drawbar wear from downloads on the drawbar tongue. The assembly 30 provides sufficient spacing for the drawbar to be pivoted side to side on the hanger bar 20, when desired. The drawbar can be retained in a fixed position by the provision of pins 26 through spaced openings 28 in the hanger bar 20 to as to straddle the drawbar. Mirror images stop members 33 are provided on the lateral side walls 32a, 32b, respectively of the saddle 32 to contact the pins 26. Assembly 30 provides download support of the drawbar 10 when needed while permitting lateral movement of the drawbar 10 along the hanger bar 20. As good as this design is, an improvement over this design would be beneficial.